


strange behaviors

by AlexiaBlackbriar13



Series: s7 pregnant felicity fics [4]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Mostly just fluff I'm not gonna lie, OTA focused, Olicity are expecting a baby and I'm ECSTATIC, Original Team Arrow, Post 7x14, Pregnant Felicity Smoak, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, hiding pregnancy, season 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 14:23:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18033395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiaBlackbriar13/pseuds/AlexiaBlackbriar13
Summary: the 5 times john diggle noticed oliver queen and felicity smoak's latest weird behaviors and the 1 time he figured out what was causing it (spoiler alert: it's fetus mia smoak-queen)





	strange behaviors

**Author's Note:**

> listen i desperately need fluff at the moment dont even touch me i have too many feelings

Oliver and Felicity were acting strangely.

John had been friends with them long enough to differentiate between weird and non-weird behavior when it came to that couple. And for the last couple of days, their interactions had definitely changed somewhat on both a physical and emotional level. He had no idea what had caused the shift, and that irritated him, so he was determined to figure out what precisely was going on to cause his two best friends to be acting so bizarrely.

That meant watching them closely and noting their slowly altering dynamic - and that wasn’t easy.

* * *

Team Arrow were forced to undertake two weeks worth of SCPD police academy training if they wanted to be deputized, and Felicity had insisted on joining them for it. The police weren’t aware of her position of Overwatch on the team but thought that she wished to undergo the training because she was Oliver’s wife and wanted to learn to protect herself, so they allowed it - mostly because Dinah as the Captain said that Felicity had every right to be there.

John approved of this; he had given Felicity some self-defense training in the past, and he knew that she and Oliver trained together every week, but it was sensible for the blonde to accept the opportunity to master more self-defense skills. But despite her insistence on being there and partaking in the training, Felicity held back. John could see it in the way she hovered at the edges of the mats, a glint of concern and nervousness in her eyes as they ran through some hand-to-hand combat exercises.

The only time she got involved was when Oliver offered to be her partner, and John could easily see that he was taking it easy with her. He was being extremely cautious not to hit her anywhere near her torso, aiming most of his swipes at her arms, and only brushing against her really when they made contact. This wasn’t uncommon; Oliver would often pull his punches and weaken his hits when training with Felicity, but John had never known Felicity to not give him shit for it. She didn’t like her husband treating her delicately when it came to self-defense usually.

“So how come you’re not out there getting dirty on the mats?” he asked her, in as casual a voice as he could muster. “I thought you enjoyed this stuff. You could wipe the floor with some of these recruits.”

Felicity shrugged, flipping a towel over her shoulder and sipping at a glass of water. “My back’s kind of been hurting recently. I’m a little concerned that it’s something to do with the neuroimplant. I’m waiting for Curtis to get back to me on some of the scans I’ve done, and I don’t want to risk damaging it even further, if it is already damaged, by doing training that I can do later with Oliver once I’m certain the chip’s fine.”

“Why’d you even train with Oliver at all today if you were worried about the implant?”

“He knows about it and I don’t know if you saw, but he was being extra careful,” was Felicity’s quick response.

It sort of made sense, so John backed off.

* * *

John had never known Felicity to ever drink decaf coffee.

Ever.

Even when she was on painkillers after the limo attack and her paralysis, when she wasn’t supposed to consume too much caffeine because it could interact with the drugs, Felicity had still insisted on drinking at least two cups of coffee a day.

During a lunch break on one of their handgun academy training days, while Oliver was providing insight on a particularly tricky homicide case, John had taken Felicity out for lunch and they’d swung by one of her favorite coffee shops on the way back to the precinct.

John did a doubletake when instead of ordering her normal vanilla latter with an extra espresso shot, Felicity ordered a decaf caramel frappe.

“The world must be ending,” he commented.

“Hmm?”

“You got a decaf coffee drink,” he pointed out.

“Oh, yeah.” Felicity shrugged, like it didn’t matter.

But it seriously did. It was so out of character for her that John eyed her suspiciously. “How come you’ve suddenly switched to decaf?”

“Dr Schwartz says I can’t consume caffeine on my new anxiety medication,” Felicity said nonchalantly.

John didn’t know that Felicity was on any anti-anxiety meds, but he guessed that was probably for a reason. If he didn’t know, then Felicity hadn’t wanted him to know. Considering how he’d treated her over the last six months, and how he’d been acting lately, he wasn’t all that surprised. “And you’re listening to her?”

Fiddling with her frappe straw, Felicity smirked and replied, “Dr Schwartz is the only doctor in the city who will medically treat vigilantes. I want to stay on her good side.”

He shot her a disbelieving look. “Sure.”

She elbowed him in the side. “C’mon, let’s get back before my husband gets on our cases.”

* * *

On the last day of their SCPD academy training, John, Lyla, Oliver, and Felicity went out for dinner together before their ‘graduation’, for the first time in a year. They went to a nice Italian restaurant that Felicity picked out that had just opened up on 5th and Main, with great service and amazing food.

The archer had to remind them all when they examined the frankly impressive cocktail and wine menus that they needed to stay sober for the ceremony. Lyla laughed as she teased Oliver about turning up in the Green Arrow suit tipsy, and what he might say to their academy instructor, who disliked vigilantes and Oliver and Felicity both hated with a vengeance, if he was a little loose-lipped.

Half-way through dinner, Felicity received a phone call. She quickly showed Oliver her cell phone screen and he nodded at her sharply. Apologizing to the group, Felicity stood and hastily crossed the room to go and stand in the restaurant’s lobby area, out of earshot of all of them.

“Everything okay between you two?” John questioned Oliver, a twisting feeling in his chest telling him that something might be wrong.

Oliver jumped in his seat and gave a striking impression of a startled baby antelope. “Everything’s great. Why? What makes you think otherwise? Do we not seem okay?” he asked, sounding ever so slightly panicked.

Lyla leaned back in her chair, frowning at him. “You two are tip-toeing around us,” she told him. “Like you have something to hide.”

Oliver was saved from being grilled by the two of them by Felicity returning. She kissed her husband on the cheek tenderly as she sat back down next to him, taking his hand and squeezing his fingers gently. “They’ve had to push back our appointment by three hours,” she said, her voice soft and apologetic. “It’s at four now tomorrow.”

Oliver looked… disappointed?

“What appointment?” John asked, clearing his throat.

“Oh. Oliver and I are going to couples counseling,” Felicity informed him, with a smile.

Lyla and John exchanged glances.

“Everything’s fine,” Felicity reassured them. “We just realized after everything’s that happened, with Oliver going to prison, being released from prison, Diaz, William leaving… we needed a safe environment to talk things out.”

“I hope it’s working out for you,” Lyla said. “It’s very brave of the two of you to take that step.”

Oliver was staring at his wife with a dopey, exuberant grin. “Yeah,” he hummed.

John was confused. Oliver was disappointed about their couples counseling appointment being pushed back by three hours? Yeah, something fishy was going on there.

* * *

John had thought Oliver was a doting husband before this strange shift in his and Felicity’s dynamic, but now he was positively spoiling her. The team were back working in the bunker and hanging out there again, and Oliver and Felicity were both spending a lot of time there together. Apparently, the encryption and software offered by Felicity’s systems in the bunker were much better than her systems at home in their apartment, so she was continuing to develop her DNA tracking programs on her Overwatch computers. And while she was working in the bunker, and Oliver was there with her, he showered her with gifts of food and drink.

Felicity said she was thirsty and five minutes later, Oliver would be producing chocolate milk and iced teas and freshly squeezed juices. Felicity mentioned off-hand that she was peckish, and Oliver would be immediately offering to go and cook for her, or pick up take-out, or bringing her pre-prepared salads and snacks from the bunker fridge.

It was crazy. John didn’t understand it. Normally, Oliver vocally protested against Felicity eating and drinking too much junk, but he had been giving her whatever she wanted lately.

One evening, Felicity groaned after they arrived back from a difficult patrol, leaning back in her hair and running her fingers through her loose hair. “I really want Big Belly Burger.”

“It’s two in the morning,” Rene said incredulously.

“A girl’s allowed to want Big Belly Burger whenever she wants,” Felicity retorted. She turned pleading doe eyes on her husband. “Oliver? Please? I really, _really_ want Big Belly Burger. I’m craving it.”

Oliver didn’t even change out of his Green Arrow suit before he was on his bike and out of the doors, going to fetch her burgers, fries, onion rings, and a milkshake.

“He didn’t even take my order!” Rene huffed.

“You should know by now that he only really cares about what Felicity wants and needs,” John told him, rolling his eyes. It was weird that he was so willing at the moment to be at her beck and call every single moment, but it was cute how much he loved his wife.

“I feel like such a neglected son,” Rene muttered, pushing his guns onto his weapons counter and hanging up his hockey mask.

Felicity snapped around to blink at him with wide eyes, bemused, before she raised an eyebrow. “If you want to chase after my husband, be my guest.”

“Good luck,” John said, when Rene cast a look over to the garage doors.

* * *

It was late morning and John was heading to the bunker to help Oliver and Felicity with some of the monthly maintenance they had to do to keep the place from collapsing when he got Oliver’s text.

The archer was requesting he grab some anti-nausea medications on his way; Oliver gave the name of a specific antiemetic drug that was available over the counter. John was worried and confused about what he needed them for - maybe one of his friends was suffering from an illness of some kind - but he did what Oliver asked, picking up the pills and bringing them to the bunker.

Oliver looked relieved when he arrived, hovering around the bathroom door. “Thank you so much,” he said, clapping John on the shoulder as he took the drugs. “Can you get a bottle of Gatorade from the fridge for me please?”

John shook his head, even more bewildered. He noticed as he was fetching a bottle of orange Gatorade that Felicity was nowhere to be seen. Then he heard the sounds of violent vomiting from the bathroom, as the door was swinging open, and Oliver speaking soothingly to somebody.

Felicity was kneeling over, her arms braced on the toilet seat as she threw up. Oliver was kneeling behind her, rubbing her back and holding her hair as he tried to comfort her, telling her that it was alright and he was there for her.

When Oliver noticed that John was looking at them both, he told him sadly, “Food poisoning, we think. Bad chow mein.”

John bent over to pick up the abandoned box of antiemetic drugs near Oliver’s knee. “Looks rough.”

“Oh, it _is_ rough,” Felicity groaned, her voice cracked and raw. She both sounded and appeared tired, her forehead beaded with sweat. “I hate this. This is all your fault, Oliver.”

John offered her a tissue to wipe her mouth and uncapped the Gatorade for her. “It’s his fault you ate nasty chow mein?” 

“He... ordered it,” she said weakly. She took the two pills and energy drink, checking the drugs with a strange expression on her face. “And these are…”

“Just anti-nausea,” Oliver answered quickly. “They’re safe… in combination with your anti-anxiety meds.”

Felicity nodded at him, and John got that weird sensation again that the shared look between them was a loaded one, caused by that peculiar new dynamic of theirs. “Right. Okay. Hopefully these will actually work.” She swallowed the pills down and drained half of the Gatorade within less than a minute.

John stepped back and watched with a puzzled feeling as Oliver flushed the toilet and helped his wife to her feet slowly. “C’mon, let’s get you to the couch to lie down and get some rest,” he said softly. “Allow some time for those drugs to kick in.”

Sighing, Felicity relaxed into his arms. Much to John’s shock, the archer swept the blonde up into his arms, carrying her bridal style across the bunker, and Felicity just buried her head into his neck and let him.

Yeah, there was absolutely something insane going on. And he was going crazy not knowing.

* * *

John finally figured it out.

_Finally._

Team Arrow were formulating a plan together about how to tackle surveillance of a gang of gunrunners who according to ARGUS intel, were associated with Dante. It was going to be difficult as Dinah still wasn’t well enough to be out in the field (so wasn’t in the bunker), but they knew it would be safer to go in pairs on this mission so that they all had somebody to watch their backs. Well, it wasn’t that difficult - there were four of them, after all: Oliver, Felicity, John, and Rene. But when Rene suggested that he and Oliver go together, and Felicity go out into the field with John, it was as if he’d just broken every sacred law of the universe.

“Felicity’s got proper self-defense training now and she’s decent with a gun, she’d be fine out in the field,” Rene argued.

John swore that he’d _never_ seen Oliver look so thunderous. The sheer anger in his eyes, in combination with a sliver of fear and a speck of anxiety, was kind of alarming. John could see by the twitching of the archer’s fingers and the clenching of his teeth that Oliver was seconds away from stepping forward and clocking Rene in the face.

Fortunately, Felicity stepped in. She laid her hand on her husband’s arm and he instantly wilted, the fury leaching out of him. He turned to look at her with such an affectionate and caring glance that John’s heart clenched.

“That’s not going to be happening, Rene,” she said, completely calm and impassive. “You’ll just have to go out as a trio.”

“But we won’t be able to cover both the warehouse access points,” Rene retorted.

“We’re going as a three, end of discussion,” Oliver growled dangerously.

Rene glared at him. “Pretty sure your wife can handle herself! She’ll be with John, she’ll be safe.”

John watched Oliver and Felicity’s reactions intensely. His jaw almost dropped when he saw Felicity subtly lower her hands from where she had them locked over her stomach to splay out over her belly, as if protecting something within. Gaze jerking up, he spotted Oliver’s eyes dart down from his wife’s face to her hands over her stomach and a very sweet, soft smile grace his lips, as if a light had just flickered to life inside of him.

No.

No way.

 _That_ was that they’d been hiding?

Adding everything up… it made total sense.

Wow.

Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen were expecting a baby.

“Rene, I believe Oliver said that was the end of the discussion,” Felicity said quietly.

Rene stormed away with a scowl, heading to the garage. John was left alone on the computer platform with Oliver and Felicity, who had both resumed their normal positions - Felicity sitting in front of her monitors, tapping at her keyboard, with her husband standing behind her - as if the whole argument had never happened. When neither of them said anything, John wondered whether or not this would be the right time to confront them about what he’d just figured out. The tension in the room had decreased, leaving a warm atmosphere behind. Now was a good a time as ever.

“Congratulations,” he said. “When’s it due?”

Both Oliver and Felicity went utterly still at the same time. It was unnerving seeing them both freeze simultaneously, and remain unmoving for the next couple of seconds. Then they slowly exchanged looks. Felicity appeared panicked, and Oliver just resigned and sheepish.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Felicity responded, at the exact moment that Oliver replied with excitement in his voice, “October.”

Felicity immediately whacked her husband’s arm. “Oliver!”

“It’s John!” Oliver pleaded. “C’mon, Felicity, he’s our best friend.”

“It’s too early,” she whined.

“Are you still first trimester?” John questioned curiously.

Groaning, Felicity dropped her head down onto her folded arms on top of the counter. “John. Stop. Nobody’s supposed to know.”

“It’s a little late to deny it now your husband has told me when the baby’s due,” John chuckled. “Honestly, congratulations. I’m so happy for you both.”

“You’re gonna be godfather,” Oliver said immediately.

“Oliver!”

Oliver gave his wife his puppy dog eyes. “We agreed on that last week.”

“You’re impossible,” Felicity complained. “You’re like a four-year-old child at Christmas, but you’re celebrating every day.”

“My wife is pregnant, I’m allowed to be excited.”

“Oh, just say it out loud for the whole world to hear.”

“We’re in the bunker and the only person who could possibly hear us is John.”

Felicity slapped Oliver ’s wrist again. “And he wasn’t supposed to find out yet!” Turning to look at John, she continued, “We’re not ready for anybody to know yet. Well. Anybody else. We, uh, we think we’re going to keep it a secret for as long as possible, actually. Makes everything safer, keeps us out of danger. If this one -” she poked her husband hard in the chest, and he emitted a quiet, fake little ‘ow’ - “Can keep his mouth shut. Seven years keeping his secret identity, but he can’t manage three weeks without telling someone about our baby.”

“I’m honored to be in the know,” John responded, pulling her up out of her chair to hug her. He yanked Oliver in for the embrace as well. “You two are gonna be incredible with this baby.”

“I really hope so,” Oliver mumbled.

“I know so,” Felicity said, kissing him when they all released each other. “But seriously, no telling anybody else.”

“A lot of things make sense now,” John told her. “Your hesitance during physical training, the decaf coffee, the changed appointment… that was an ultrasound appointment, I’m guessing?”

“Our first,” Oliver beamed. “I have photos if you want to see them.”

“I guess the Big Belly Burger cravings and morning sickness were bigger markers, huh,” Felicity said, wrapping her arms around her husband’s waist and hugging him. “We’ve been trying to be subtle but… it’s obviously not been working out well.”

“Oh no, it definitely has,” John corrected her. “I wouldn’t have figured it out at all if I hadn’t seen you put your hands on your stomach when Rene was shouting at you, and Oliver hadn’t looked down and smiled.”

“He’s been such a dork about it.”

“I can only imagine.”

Oliver rolled his eyes. “We’ve got a mission to run,” he told John. “Ready to head out?”

“Whenever you are.”

John watched with a wide grin as Oliver kissed Felicity tenderly and then bent down to press a kiss to her belly, before following after his partner into the garage.

Yeah, Oliver and Felicity were going to be great with the baby. And if they ever needed any help, he’d be right by their sides to support them.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!!
> 
> twitter: @lexiblackbriar  
> tumblr: @alexiablackbriar13


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